U.S. stock futures and AI-linked shares fell on Monday after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for the industry to slow the pace of frontier AI development. The reaction opens a week dominated by interest rate decisions from the Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and Bank of England, while stalled talks over the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices higher.
AI-linked stocks sank across Asia and Europe on Monday, and U.S. stock futures traded lower, after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on AI firms to decelerate the race to build and deploy frontier models, warning of the risk that increasingly powerful systems could be misused. The essay, published Saturday, came after Anthropic said several actors had used its Claude models for activity including weapons development and fraud.
AI slowdown call rattles tech shares
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk backed Amodei's call, a signal some investors read as a possible slowdown in the AI infrastructure spending boom. Altman also said OpenAI would not go ahead with a possible public offering this year because of safety concerns. Deutsche Bank analysts said the essay could instead just shift the mix of AI spending toward safety and governance rather than cut the total scale of investment.
The pullback spread to chipmakers: SoftBank, an OpenAI investor, dropped sharply in Tokyo trading, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dipped, and SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell in South Korea, with pressure extending to European equities and U.S. futures.
Fed decision looms over the week
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates when its two-day policy meeting concludes Wednesday, as policymakers try to corral inflation. Data last week showing firmer-than-anticipated underlying U.S. consumer price growth in August bolstered the case for a rate increase, and analysts say the move could ease investor worries about the Fed's independence.
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has largely avoided laying out a detailed rate roadmap. At a recent speech, Warsh said only that the central bank must be confident inflation is moving toward "our objective, clearly and at sufficient speed". Complicating matters, President Donald Trump, who appointed Warsh earlier this year, has threatened to cut off a large portion of U.S. trade should the Fed raise rates.
BOJ and BOE diverge on rates
The Bank of Japan is tipped to raise interest rates to 1.25% at its meeting on September 18, with a Reuters poll pointing to a further quarter-point hike to 1.75% in the second quarter of next year — earlier than many observers had previously anticipated. Poll respondents linked the shift to a reported joint U.S.-Japan intervention to purchase yen aimed at halting the currency's slide to a four-decade low.
By contrast, the Bank of England is seen holding its key Bank Rate at 3.75% through at least the middle of next year, a Reuters poll found, with elevated energy prices tied to the Middle East war keeping a rate cut off the table until late 2027.
Mideast oil tensions cloud the outlook
Diplomatic efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz have stumbled. A planned meeting between Gulf powers and Iran, originally set for Monday, has been postponed, Oman's foreign minister said, in the interests of consensus. Strikes by Iran-backed Houthi militants shut a critical oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia, and attacks on Gulf vessels added to supply concerns. Brent crude futures briefly topped $108 a barrel.
Source: Investing.com
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